girlnouns's reviews
189 reviews

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

4.0

Tim is a psychopath. 4HWW was a fun read and as someone who wasted a lot of time on emails, he gives good advice.

Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection by Jia Jiang

4.0

Hilarious and pretty wholesome, overall terrific book

The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories by Anthony Marra

5.0

Need to re-read it over again, really funny and dark, loved the relationships between parent-child

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama

3.0

Police politics and press releases, a book on how the Japanese Police operates and its relationship to the press. Sometimes I forgot his daughter is missing tbh

The Name of the Game Is a Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino

4.0

-Fast paced and short
-thought the mc was a clown from the start - sex scene translation worse than Murakami
-amazing twist as usual from Keigo Higashino

People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo--and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry

4.0

- very interesting look into the Roppongi night life, Japanese Police, and Court System from a Western Perspective
-I enjoyed Parry's detailed approach toward Lucie and her family
-Minus a star for not using USD
-The Japanese Police's incompetence in this books is baffling

A Midsummer's Equation by Keigo Higashino

2.0

Yukawa was unbearable through the first half of the book and I only finished to see what the *twist* would be. I enjoyed Higashino's other works, but the detective work and the resolution was subpar and the generational love/sacrifice plot didn't quite land.

Very disappointing.

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

3.0

Hmm I appreciate that it goes into the numerous details of the victims, but I felt myself skimming it/reading really fast because of how detailed the accounts were.

Definitely not one of the top true crime that I've read but it was certainly captivating and spooky. Wonder how this book would have turned out if he was caught a year sooner : /

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

5.0

Wow, did not expect much but this is a wonderful book.

Pros :
- Love the descriptions of Alaska's nature
- Wonderful heartbreaking one-liners
-Cracked up on Ernt's descriptions of changing Kaneq (Detroit/LA/Disneyland lol)
-Wholesome side characters
-Convincing display of parental bonds, sacrifice and love

Cons :
-Pacing was off; I wish Hannah went more into detail about the lonely winters and expanded more on certain plot points. This book doesn't quite have that Murakmi boredom period when characters are stuck somewhere for a long period of time.
-I would like to say I think this is pretty a pop-lit but it was very enjoyable pop lit (probably because it was my first read from Hannah)

Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein

4.0

This book is about the Author's journey from college to covering various types of crime. Jake focuses his life as a journalist more so than certain cases, which I thought was very refreshing.
Some people say that Jake Adelstein is a psycho, but I think a lot of callousness comes from the Police not being fully effective against organized crime. This can be seen in People who Eat Darkness, a book on Lucie Blackman's murder, where the police only do their job with foreign pressure involved and also are not too concerned about sex workers.

Adelstein's push for more visibility for human trafficking in sex work is refreshing and I disagree with the people that think Jake Adelstein is some bumbling American idiot (even though he portrays him self that way). He did really good work as a journalist and puts his work over anything else, sacrificing his capacity to be a good partner and friend.